Ducas

(Μιχαὴλ ὁ Δοῦκας). A Byzantine historian who held office under the last of the Greek emperors, Constantine XIII. On the capture of Constantinople by the Turks (A.D. 1453), he escaped to Lesbos, where he wrote a history of the period from the time of John VI., Palaeologus (A.D. 1355), to the capture of Lesbos by the Turks (1462). Though written in barbarous Greek, the history is clear and impartial and of considerable value. The best edition is that of Bekker (Bonn, 1834), which has appended to it an early Italian translation.